Related Party Transaction

RNS Number : 1238M

Life Science REIT PLC

19 May 2022

 

19 May 2022

LEI: 213800RG7JNX7K8F7525

Life Science REIT plc

("Life Science REIT" or the "Company")

Related Party Transaction

Life Science REIT (AIM: LABS), the real estate investment trust focused on UK life science properties, announces that, following the successful acquisition of Oxford Technology Park ("OTP") last week and the investment of all the equity proceeds from its oversubscribed IPO in November 2021 in seven, high quality transactions at a total acquisition value of £383 million, it has today signed an agreement (the "Agreement") with Chapel Road Farm Estates Limited ("Chapel Road"). The Agreement notes that Chapel Road has provided introduction and facilitation services in relation to the acquisition of OTP and five other properties that were included in the Company's advanced pipeline at IPO and which have since been acquired by the Company. The total value of these pipeline acquisitions amounts to c.£298.0 million.

The Company also notes that the involvement of Chapel Road enabled the Company to acquire the pipeline assets in special purpose vehicles, which has resulted in lower overall acquisition costs for the Company versus the equivalent costs if the assets had been acquired directly.

Under the terms of the Agreement, the Company has incurred a fee and disbursements of £635,593 (excluding VAT, if any) payable in cash to Chapel Road. This is a one-off agreement between the Company and Chapel Road, with the origins of the services dating back to prior to the IPO. The Board anticipates that future investment propositions, and their associated costs, will now all be conducted via the Company's investment adviser, Ironstone Asset Management Limited ("Ironstone"), with the services provided under the existing Investment Advisory Agreement.

Chapel Road is a company associated with Simon Hope, the Founder and Vice Chairman of Ironstone, and therefore the Agreement constitutes a related party transaction under Rule 13 of the AIM Rules for Companies. As such, the directors of the Company consider, having consulted with the Company's nominated adviser, Panmure Gordon, that the terms of the Agreement are fair and reasonable insofar as the Company's shareholders are concerned.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

Ironstone Asset Management - Investment Adviser
Simon Farnsworth	via Buchanan below
Panmure Gordon - Nominated Adviser and Joint Corporate Broker	[phone]
Atholl Tweedie / Sapna Shah / Philip Shields / Chloe Ponsonby
Jefferies International Limited - Joint Corporate Broker	[phone]
Tom Yeadon / Andrew Morris / Oliver Nott
Buchanan - Financial PR	[phone]
Mark Court / Henry Wilson / Verity Parker [e-mail]

Notes to editors

Life Science REIT plc is a property business focused solely on the UK's growing life science sector, specifically targeting opportunities in the "Golden Triangle" research and development hubs of Oxford, Cambridge and London St Pancras. The Company's intention is to become the property provider of choice for life science companies in the UK, whilst enabling shareholders to gain exposure to a specific growth sector. 

The objective of the Company's investment policy is focused on capital growth, whilst also providing a growing level of income, by investing primarily in a diversified portfolio of properties that are leased, or intended to be leased, to tenants operating in the life science sector in the UK. 

Life Science REIT joined the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange on 19 November 2021, having raised £350 million in its IPO. Its shares trade under the ticker LABS.

Further information is available at https://lifesciencereit.co.uk

 

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